Before exploring the inside of the pineapple, an avocado, a grapefruit and a strawberry that we had recently been observing on the outside, the children made predictions guessing which fruit might have the largest seed. The strawberry wasn't even a mystery, because it's tiny little seeds are on the outside! After the predictions were made, each fruit was sliced open as the children observed how different the fruits looked on the inside. The avocado definitely had the biggest seed of all and after researching we learned that the top of the pineapple with it's green prickly leaves when planted, grows into a new pineapple!
The most fun was finally being able to taste all of those fruits we had been observing. Believe it or not,
everyone tried at least a bite of each fruit!
Finally, the children took the seeds from each of the fruits and planted them in the garden.
In P. E. on Wednesday Alpha students learned how to dribble a basketball. Coach Every, Coach Pope and Coach Wolfrath were said they were impressed!
When carving the jack-o-lantern the children removed all of it's many seeds from the inside. This week after the seeds had been baked with three different flavors, the boys and girls were able to taste each kind to determine which was their favorite. After deciding which tasted best... Cinnamon Sugar, Plain or Salty, they filled in their choice in the bar graph.
"My First Thanksgiving" by Tomie de Paola was a great introduction to the meaning of Thanksgiving.
The children learned that the Native Americans and the Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving, and now each year in the month of November, families celebrate this special day with family and friends with a big feast! Together the class decided on a list of food that they would like to have for our feast here at school, making sure we selected foods from all of the food groups and of course we didn't forget dessert! On Monday both Alpha classes will take a trip to Publix, and following a tour of the grocery, the children will shop for our upcoming feast!
In preparation for our feast, the children are making their own placemats for the table. They chose the colors for each turkey's body and feathers. After having their hands painted, they made handprints to represent turkeys!
Turkey hats are also being made for the celebration. First they decorated the headband, folded paper strips in a zig zag for legs and then glued the waddle to the turkey's head and added a few colorful feathers!
NEWS UPDATE!! A new Publix store recently opened in the Exploratorium. There are jobs available at the cash registers, baggers and shelf stockers!!!
Alpha students are really having fun exploring their new store, just like the real store that we will be visiting on Monday! Some children are filling their shopping baskets with the groceries they need, while others are busy checking them out and bagging their groceries. If they need help finding a price, they pick up the phone and call for a price check!
Then they take their groceries home and put them away in the cabinets and refrigerator, before preparing a family meal.
We had a special mystery reader this week that read, "Oh The Places You'll Go!" by Dr. Seuss.
On Thursday The Friendly Frogs did such a fabulous job reciting their poem on stage. What a beautiful, crisp fall morning for Poetry in the Park. They were also a great audience as they listened intently to each class read their poems. Thank you so much parents for joining us for this special event!
After reading about the Native Americans, the types of houses they lived in such as teepees or chickees and the meanings of symbols they drew to represent things that were important to them such as sunshine, water, mountains, plants and rain, the boys and girls painted symbols on a long brown banner that we will use to make our classroom teepee.
Upcoming dates to remember:
11/12 Field trip to Publix
11/16 Thanksgiving Exploring and Feast
11/26 - 11/30 Thanksgiving Break
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